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John waits for Sylvia to catch up, and then they continue to head after Nick.  He leaves the lunch room and dumps his uneaten lunch.  He bolts for the back doors and then goes outside.  "He's upset."  John says softly as they move along.

Sylvia smiles a little, eyes fixed on Nick's exit.  "My job here is done, then.  'He's upset.'  Sammy will be relieved."

She quickens her pace to get a vantage on Nick before he can disappear.

Once he's out of doors Nick's pace slows.  He's walking, hands in his pockets, towards the gymnasium.  As they move it's apparent from his body language he's unhappy.  Sylvia's other senses begin to pick up the fragments of his thoughts, colored by his emotions.  She said they were through.  He kicks a pile of snow as he moves by.  After last night, and she was just there letting him kiss her so it's obvious I am the biggest chump ever.  He gets to the gym and yanks open the door, going inside.

John stops them at the door and listens for a minute.  Sylvia can feel Nick on the other side of the door, and a faint sound can be heard like pounding or hammering followed by crashing.  "He doesn't seem love gooed, but he's mad as hell."

Have you been keeping up with Sammy's love life? she asks.  Did Sammy tell Nick she was done with Elrod?

"Was I.."  He stops, a grimace crossing his features, Was I supposed to?  According to the rumor mill Nick and Sammy had an intimate encounter last night.  Nick made the mistake of telling one of his friends, and it was overheard and that's how that got loose.  The only problem is that Elrod's sister told someone here that she came home last night to find Sammy and Elrod having an intimate encounter.  And that rumor is flying around as well.

I'll see what Sammy has to say.

She reaches telepathically toward the music geek in the cafeteria, and a red, analog phone, perceptible only by Sammy, appears on the table before her.  It rings shrilly.

Sammy wonders where the phone that no one else hears ringing came from, but life is weird and getting weirder so she rolls with it.  She answers.  "Hello?"

Hi, Sammy? Sylvia says, as if there's any doubt that she has the right number.  I'm going to ask you a couple of questions, and they're totally judgment-free.  Did you sleep with Nick?  Did you tell him you were done with Elrod?

"Did I WHAT?  No, I didn't sleep with Nick!  I've never slept with anybody! Not Nick, not Elrod, not anybody!  And the only thing I've told Nick is that I'm not going to date just Elrod anymore, because I really need to back away from that, this is followed by a flood of mental flashes of a depressed Sammy, Sammy losing herself for years in a guy who's not around because she's in school and he's in college or elsewhere, conflicting with guilty Sammy keeping Elrod here when he needs more than anything to go away and figure himself out, Elrod going to jail because he's over 18 and Sammy is not, how nice it is to be around Elrod, how nice it is to be around Nick, internal conflict because she really does like both of them,...so we went to a movie over Christmas but nothing more.

Judgment-free, Sylvia reiterates, and she means it.  Thing is, John says he's heard gossip that you and Nick had what John calls "an intimate encounter" last night.  Meanwhile Lisa Janush has been telling people that she came home to catch you and Elrod having--

John?  Suddenly it's a party call.  What exactly is an intimate encounter?

John changes colors.  Sylvia's connection to Sammy passes the definition , Sex, along as well as a flash of a personal thought, a thought which involves John and Sammy in what might be an intimate encounter.  "Thank you ever so much for embarrassing me."  His color returns to normal a moment later.

"Sorry," Sylvia says, only mildly amused.

I guess we'd better talk to Elrod and Nick and find out what really happened last night.  Can you handle Elrod, Sammy?

Sylvia senses a feeling of shock from Sammy, the mental equivalent of a madly spinning whirlwind randomly picking up and dropping things, with absolutely no sense of order.  Its all because of the rumors.  John's faux pas doesn't phase her.  The only response to it is a there and gone again feeling of elation associated with streaked blurs of brightly colored lights, but she's more concerned with the rumor mill.

"@!*&%%" she finally replies.  "@!*&%%, @!*&%%, @!*&%%!  Where are you?  I don't want to corner El alone; suppose he thinks that we... he and I... no.  I don't want to do that alone.  I'll come help you talk to Nick, and then we'll find El.  Should I grab the others?  What do we tell Jakob?"

Sylvia flashes Sammy a picture of their location--nearby room numbers, a glimpse of the view outside.  Mobbing Nick won't induce truth.  I wouldn't advise bringing anyone else.  Pass the word that--  Sylvia's brain flashes through scenarios.  --there may be someone out there who can look like you or that there may be someone who can alter people's memories.

Sarah and I would be prime suspects, she observes soberly.  But I didn't do it.  I swear.

"Yeah, I will... hold on"

Sylvia and John see Sarah from Sammy's perspective as Sammy speaks to her.  "That's definitely part of it Sarah.  The other part... for some reason, Nick believes..."  Sammy looks around and whispers "He believes he and I had sex yesterday.  Together.  But I was with you guys, so you know its not true!  And there's a rumor going around that I did it yesterday with Elrod too... hold on a sec... there might be someone going around who can make themself look enough like me to fool Nick, or someone who can"  hope I can trust you Jakob "mess with people's heads, their memories."

She asks for them to check on Elrod.  I'm on my way.

John blinks and has to put a hand on the wall for balance.  "That was disorienting."  he says, then frowns.  "Shit!"  he exclaims, and then grabs for the door.  To Sylvia the world is made of fragile things, and non-fragile things.  John grabs the door and pulls, which is how you open a door.  Doors don't break, but Sylvia hears the twisting of metal as the locking mechanism comes apart and the door leaves it's hinges and travels several yards into the parking lot where it skids to a stop.  Before that thought is finished John has whisked Sylvia up into his arms and they zip into the gym, across the main floor and up the stairs in a blur of motion until they reach the roof.  That door also fails to live up to how Sylvia sees the world as John shifts her weight to one hand and then puts the other out like a football player, and dislodged it from the hinges.  There on the edge of the roof is Nick.

Sammy, Airborne as soon as you're outside.  Nick is on the edge of the gym roof, East side.

No!  Sammy runs as fast as she can, pushes her way past the doors, then leaps into the air, flying as fast as she can to the gym roof.  She doesn't much care if anybody sees her.  Nick's life is way more important than that.  No no no no no

Sammy arrives as Nick spins to see what made the crash behind him.  And then a gust of wind sweeps his feet out from under him and he topples backwards, going off the roof.

Sammy does her damnedest to catch him.  If she's far away, she'll form a net of air under him.  If she's close, she'll try to catch him in her arms, with the air as a backup net around the two of them.  "Ni-i-i-i-ck!"

catching flies (1d20=13) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1784431/)

Sylvia bolts toward the edge of the roof to see what's become of Nick.  Her eyes have a sick shine to them, half resignation and half resolve.

Sammy is able to swoop under him and catch him, taking them both back to the roof in a smooth motion.

Nick is heavy, and once they land his weight drags the pair to the ground.  He blinks and shakes his head.  "Huh?  Sammy?  Why?....."  he pauses.  "Why are we on the roof?"

Sammy is not expecting that.  "Because you just fell off the roof and I flew up and saved your sorry butt by bringing us both here?"  She scuttles away from him a small distance.  "Are you all right?  Because" you've been acting crazy "I am wondering why you were up here on the gym roof in the first place."

Nick frowns.  "I was in the store room.  Kicking things."  He says the last part with a slight hesitation.  "I fell off the roof?"

"I need to go get a door and put it back.  I'll be downstairs if you need me."  John says, walking downstairs.

Sylvia disappears from Nick's view and begins to sort through the muddle of his thoughts.  She's unapologetic, matter-of-fact, even cold as she pries into the depths of his mind.  She wants to find out who did this to him and why.

"Dude, if you didn't fall, you jumped, because neither John or Sylvia would push you."  She wraps her arms around her knees and hugs them close.  Its cold.  She doesn't touch Nick with anything but her eyes and her voice.  "So why were you in the store room kicking things?  And why did you come out here?"

"I was..."  He takes a deep breath.  "I was in the store room because you flat out lied to me last night.  I never would have.."  He turns a deep shade of red, "I never would have done it if I knew you were still seeing him."

Sylvia can pick up the thoughts off the surface.  The smell of Sammy's hair, her warmth, the way it felt.  If they didn't have sex then Nick has a vivid imagination.

She tries harder, digs deeper.  No.  That's a lie.  What really happened?

The memory is complete.  It has all the senses intact.  His emotions are real, the physical sensations.  There is nothing false about it as far as she can see.  But the Sammy in the memories seems awfully experienced at this.  Nick is a fumbling teenage boy living a dream come true.  Sammy is a girl with moves, and habits.

You have a doppelganger, Sylvia tells Sammy.  It looks like someone convinced Nick she was you.  We're going to have to hunt her down, unless you know who it might be.

OOC:Sylvia make a D20+4 roll please.  DC 20.

DC 20 (1d20=15) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1784567/)

Sammy sighs.  "Oh, Nick."  She passes a hand in front of her face.  "I've heard the whispers.  People are saying you and I had sex last night.  People are also saying that Elrod and I had sex last night.  Thing is, I wasn't near either of you, and I've never had sex.  Ever.  With anybody.  Last night I was in the city, with my martial arts instructor and a bunch of other people.  Then I came straight home and went to sleep, alone, in my own room.  Either there's somebody who looks and acts a lot like me who had their way with you and with El, or somebody's been messing with people's minds.  That possibly includes my mind, and it possibly includes making someone do or say something they otherwise would not do or say."  She looks over at him, not expecting him to believe any of it.  "Either way, I'm not worth you killing yourself over me.  So choose to believe me and help me figure out what happened, or call me a bitch and walk away.  But don't go jumping off any more roofs, all right?"

"I wasn't jumping off a roof!  I was headed to the...."  The thought is there, or it was.  He was walking to the Tasty Dog to dwon his sorrows in chili fries.

Sylvia sees the thought process.  But the path took him to the roof.

Horror twists the lining of her stomach, and she squelches the babyish urge to call out to Smith.  It looks like it was an illusionist, she broadcasts to the Usual Suspects.  Nick thought he was going for fries, not off the roof.  She wants to add, Watch out, but surely that's unnecessary.

Sammy stares at Nick.  "OK.  You weren't jumping off the roof.  And you really honestly believe you had sex with me.  OK."  She stands up.  "I honestly believe I haven't had sex with anybody.  I'm going to take myself to a doctor to see if I can find out if I was really there.  And if I did have sex, it really sucks that I only found out about it from the school gossips."  She gestures at the doorway.  "I can't leave you up here alone.  Something else might happen.  So go on, so I can go to the hospital."

Nick's expression is odd.  It's something like loss.  "It was real."  he says absently, getting up and heading downstairs.

A minute later John is back.  "He ok?"

"I don't know.  He believes what he said.  And I think he voted for 'Bitch.'"  She shivers, cold inside and out.  "Come on, let's go.  I need to find a doctor who will give me a physical exam. I want to know for sure if I was catting around last night or not."  Sammy's voice has a brittle edge to it.  "I don't think I was, but I have to eliminate the possibility.  I think somebody is pretending to be me.  I don't like it one bit."

"Wait."  John looks back towards the door.  "You said you were home last night after you guys were in town?"  John takes his phone from his pocket.  He looks over the call log.  "You called me from your house at about 5PM.  You left me a voice mail, wanting to know if we could get together.  You had something to tell me.  It's part of why I came to the lunch table today, I just forgot in all the comotion."

She looks at John and she feels herself begin to break.  "No.  I never called you.  Not you too, John."

John fiddles with is phone a moment and hands it to her.  She can hear her own voice, ".....so if you get this message before say 7PM call my house, I can't find my cell phone again."

"That's not a hallucination."  John says.  The caller ID is your home number.

Sylvia shimmers into view.  "Sammy, I should check you."

"But this time code says 5PM.  you guys were still in the city."  John is doing the math in his head.  "So that takes us back to someone pretending to be you."

I'm not sure you're considering all the possibilities, Sylvia says in private to John.  Sammy may have been with us yesterday, but that doesn't mean she's with us today.

And this is why I need a program for this production, to keep up.

"I have my phone."  Sammy miserably fights back tears as she pulls her cell out of her pocket to show them.  "I forgot you can check me, Sylvia.  Go ahead, right now.  Do whatever you have to do."

The problem is that Sylvia's not sure what she has to do.  She tries anyway, scanning Sammy in several passes, going progressively deeper, looking for inconsistencies.

Sammy senses Sylvia's uncertainty.  "How about if I think about it?  I'll remember what I did, and I'll try to imagine... doing It... with Nick, and with Elrod."  Unbidden, a reflection of John's imagined encounter with Sammy flashes through her mind.  Don't tell him about that, Sammy pleads, her face turning red.  I have enough to deal with as it is.  I'm a lousy juggler.

We can start there, Sylvia says.  She doesn't think it's enough, though.

Sylvia has entirely too much experience looking at tampered memories for a girl her age.  Certainly Tangia and Smith would think so.  She makes a pass through Sammy's memories, and even when Sammy tries to imagine the deed, it's just that, imagining.  Sammy looks to be in tact.  And Nick seemed to be in tact as well.

*both Samantha and Sylvia receive txt msgs from Sarah's cell.  * got Lrod meet where?

Sylvia dropped her just-a-girl act the minute she got Logan's message.  She doesn't bother with her phone.  Newsroom.  Everyone should be there.  Donnie and Colin should take a look at Sammy, and I'd like to take a look at everyone else.

She looks at Sammy and says, more gently, "It looks like your memories are intact."

So I'm only being screwed in the rhetorical sense.  Yippee.

Sammy sighs.  "OK.  Let's go mess up Elrod while I'm still on my game."

*Later that school day*

Sammy is familiar enough with Nick's schedule, and takes advantage of a class change when their paths usually come close to crossing.  She's purposefully doing this in a public place, with not much time for a long, drawn out conversation.

She steps out from against a bank of lockers when she sees him walking down the hall.  Her tone is polite, but her body language is reserved, maybe even slightly removed.  It's like she has pulled into herself, with a protective moat and bailey around her.  The moat might be filled with crocodiles.  The wall might be topped with shards of glass.  Hard to tell just yet, but caution is advised.  She's been like this since being dismissed from the auditorium to go to classes.

"Hi, Nick."

Nick is an excellent actor.  And his timing is nearly perfect.  She knows him, she spent two weeks with him on stage and she's learned a lot about his little ticks.  When he spots her his pupils change size for just a fraction of a second, and he utters that little chuckle he does when he's nervous.

"Hey Sammy.  Weird in the cafeteria huh?  That whole other Sammy and other Sylvia thing."  He purses his lips and nods, his whole body rocking slightly, and that nervous laugh again, "That's not something you see everyday huh?"

"Yeah.  Weird."  She pulls into herself a little tighter.  "It wasn't any fun seeing some crazy bitch wearing my skin."

Nick blushes at the word skin.  His head drops, and his gaze goes to his shoes.  "Yeah, that must have been pretty strange.  Seeing her and all, that would freak me out."  His head almost snaps back up, "I'm really sorry."  he blurts out, then he lowers his voice, "I never would have, I mean I wouldn't have."  he sighs, "I'm sorry."  He seems to have resigned himself to some situation.

"I know.  You were tricked.  I can see how it happened.  I don't hate you for it."  Sammy gives him that much, but she's still firmly entrenched inside the castle.  She looks at her watch.  "I should go now."

Nick's mood seems to lighten some.  "Thanks.  that, that means a lot to me."  He pauses, "and that sounded so lame, maybe I should have just stuck with thanks?"

"Whatever.  They're your words."  Sammy turns away to go to her own class.  "Goodbye, Nick."

Nick remains in the hall, watching Sammy go.  He keeps trying to speak, but no sounds come out.  That sounded pretty final.  Like goodbye for good.  Nick shakes it off and makes his way to his next class.